Make Less the Depth of Grief
by Ceasefire
Summary: On the day I bite you to death, Cavallone, perhaps I will understand." D18 and 18D, on the subject of grief and the purpose of crying.


Katekyo Hitman Reborn! is the rightful property of Amano Akira. This is a fanwork written purely for both your entertainment and mine.

Title come from a Shakespeare quote; _To weep is to make less the depth of grief._

* * *

Dino Cavallone is ten years old when his father dies.

The Cavallone Ninth had not been a good leader to the family, there was no denying it; he had been left a family burdened by financial troubles by his father, and had not had the brains or the initiative to try and fix them. Despite this, he had been a good father and his wife and child are broken by his loss. Dino is asked to speak at his father's funeral, and he does so, speaking in monotone of his Papa's life and accomplishments in front of a sea of black suits and dry eyes.

None of the men will cry for his father. Displays of weakness are not wise in the world they live in.

After the ceremony, they follow the hearse to the graveyard in which all of the Cavallone family are laid to rest, and Dino watches as the casket containing his father's body is lowered into the ground and covered in soil.

He waits until the only people left standing in front of the freshly turned earth are himself and his father's right-hand man, Romario, and it's only then that he permits himself to cry.

Romario's hand finds its way to Dino's shoulder, a comforting, reinforcing weight. Dino recites a prayer for the dead that he learned from his father, and Romario stands in silence until his boss's son falls silent, and then follows the boy back to the car that awaits him outside of the graveyard.

From that moment, Romario becomes Dino's most trusted ally.

* * *

Dino Cavallone is twenty-two when he meets Hibari Kyouya.

Hibari is wild, untamed and ruthlessly strong. He's unlike anything Dino could bother to remember, but from the moment they meet the Cavallone boss is sure that Kyouya will hold a place in his memory.

He draws his whip just as Hibari draws his tonfas, and they fight in a vicious, animalistic fray until Hibari hits Dino in the stomach hard enough to make him gag, tears budding at the corners of his eyes as he falls to his knees in slow motion.

"Pathetic herbivore," Hibari hisses, and Dino grits his teeth and decides at that very moment that he's going to bring this kid to his knees before their time together is through.

He wipes the spit from his chin and the tears from his eyes and catches Hibari off-guard, whip snagging the boy's ankle and sending him stumbling off-balance. He regains his footing just in time to block a punch that Dino aims at his face.

"Not bad, Kyouya."

"I will bite you to death."

Dino sees the flash of Hibari's eyes and the stark white of his teeth between bruised lips, but he himself will admit to grossly underestimating the weight of Hibari's words on that day.

* * *

Dino Cavallone is twenty-six when Hibari Kyouya fucks him for the first time.

Kyouya is wild and unforgiving, as if he is still standing opposite Dino on the roof of Namimori Middle, weapon in hand. Dino takes the abuse with good humor; four years of glances and rough, callow kisses have left him ready for whatever Kyouya can throw at him.

Kyouya bites his shoulder hard enough to bruise as soon as his shirt is off, and Dino smiles, hisses and watches with half-lidded eyes as Kyouya's tongue traces the blood red outline of the wound.

"Lift your hips, Cavallone."

"Alright," Dino breathes, and when Kyouya slides two fingers inside him with no warning, he moans and moves his hips in time with the movement of his ex-student's hand.

Within a matter of moments, Kyouya parts his legs and slides into him with no more ceremony than that. Dino hisses, hips arching upward even as the burn of having Kyouya inside of him brings tears to his eyes. Kyouya laughs softly and leans down, kissing away the teardrops in a gentle mockery of affection.

"I will be the one to kill you, Bucking Horse."

Dino barely registers these words before Kyouya starts moving; by this time, the last whispers of Kyouya's promise are drowned out by his own sharp cry.

* * *

Dino Cavallone is thirty-two when Sawada Tsunayoshi 'dies' at the hands of the Millefiore.

He flies in from Italy for the funeral, and he sits in the church with Romario by his side and wonders how Tsuna's funeral could be so different to his father's. So many people crying, so many people so obviously broken and torn asunder by the loss of someone so important to them.

Throughout the ceremony, his eyes wander to Kyouya, and he's not surprised in the least to see that his ex-student does not cry.

After Tsuna's coffin is buried, Dino fucks Kyouya in the back seat of his car, fingers tight around Kyouya's slim wrists as he holds them against the window. Kyouya is not at all submissive, and fingernails leave tangled strings of pink scars along Dino's back, under shirt and crisp black suit.

Kyouya still does not cry, but he looks exhausted and Dino thinks that that's enough as he presses in until there's no space between them, as he fucks Kyouya raw and realises too late that he is the one that is truly bloodied and exposed to the bone.

When Tsuna returns to his family after the war has ended, Dino receives the news with a relieved smile, and wonders if it's strange that he almost has the urge to cry more in response to the news of Tsuna living than he did to the news of Tsuna dying.

* * *

Dino Cavallone is thirty-seven years old when his right-hand man dies to protect him.

Romario had been with him on one of their regular drives to the country, and they had been attacked by an assassin from a rival family. Had it not been for Romario's quick thinking both of them would have perished, but Dino escaped with nothing more than a few trivial injuries that would heal with rest and proper care. Now Dino was left to live with the guilt of his best friend's blood on his hands. Perhaps this was his punishment for the lack of physical pain. He cries for his friend and right-hand man, even if the mere action alone makes his bruised ribs scream in painful protest.

Kyouya arrives in Italy three days after the attack, blind rage evident on his face as he grips the sides of Dino's face with one hand and forces the older man to look at him.

"You were scarred by someone else."

Kyouya grip tightens, and Dino almost winces.

"I really hate it."

"Is that all?" Dino murmurs, and Kyouya's eyes narrow.

"Do not shows such pathetic weakness in front of me again, Cavallone."

Dino chuckles humorlessly and wipes away the moistness at the corners of his eyes.

"Have you ever heard the phrase _'tearless grief bleeds inwardly'_, Kyouya?"

"No," Hibari replies, finally loosening his grip on Dino's face. Dino doesn't bother pulling away from his touch.

"Don't you ever get sad, Kyouya? Don't you ever feel as if you have to cry?"

"No. Such herbivorous emotions are a waste of time."

"If you ever feel sad, Kyouya, promise me you will cry."

Kyouya did not reply, and Dino almost gives up. He shuts his eyes and tries to rest, but he's interrupted when his ex-student begins to speak.

"On the day I bite you to death, Cavallone, perhaps I will understand."

Dino nods silently, and does not protest when Kyouya unbuttons the top button on his shirt and bites down sharply on the outline of his collarbone, brusing him darker than any of the other injuries on his skin.

"I trust you, Kyouya."

Kyouya's smirk is barely visible before he kisses Dino hard enough to make him groan.

* * *

Dino Cavallone is forty-one when Hibari Kyouya bites him to death.

Three days before, Dino was injured beyond any repair by a violent attack upon his family. Burns to the torso and limbs from explosions, gunshot wounds from enemy assassins. Irreparable damage to the tissue of his throat and lungs from the heat and smoke of the fires. He would never walk again, never talk again. He would waste away in silence, with the remainder of a decimated family and no heir to carry on the name, and that would be the end of the Cavallone.

Kyouya visits him in the private clinic Dino is kept in two days after the attack, surveys the sight of his ex-tutor and lover clinging to life with a strange sort of anger twisting his expression.

"Bucking Horse."

Dino opens blurry eyes and tries to smile around the tubes on his lips, in his throat.

Kyouya smirks in return and presses a deceptively soft kiss to Dino's brow, just as he reaches into his jacket for the gun holstered at his side.

"I've come to keep my promise."

Dino shuts his eyes, a silent acceptance of his fate. Kyouya shoots twice, directly into Dino's chest; the older man flinches violently with every shot, but does not writhe in pain or look at Kyouya with anything but love as blood slowly dyes the fabric of his hospital gown red.

With the last of his strength, Dino reaches for Kyouya's outstretched hand, and the Vongola Cloud Guardian takes Dino's hand and holds it until his skin goes cold.

It's only then that Kyouya realises his cheeks are damp and his eyes are stinging.

He reaches into the top drawer of the small cabinet next to Dino's hospital bed and finds a handkerchief embroidered with the Cavallone family's emblem. He uses it to dry his cheeks and clean the blood from his hands, and he pockets it and walks out of the room with one final, fleeting look at Dino's body.

Perhaps this would end the alliance between the Vongola and the Cavallone. Perhaps this would start all-out war between their allies. It didn't matter to Kyouya at all.

The only thing that mattered was that a promise was kept; no one else had to understand the reasoning behind it.

* * *

Hibari Kyouya is forty-four years old when he goes missing. They find his corpse two days after what would have been his forty-fifth birthday.

Tsuna is not surprised when he hears that they have found the remains of his Cloud Guardian, but that does not mean he's not saddened by the news. When the body is returned to Japan to be cremated, Tsuna gives permission for his Cloud Guardian's remains to be searched for personal effects.

When they inform him that they have retrieved a handkerchief with the Cavallone family emblem sewn into the corner, Tsuna isn't sure if that answers the questions that have been hanging between the two families for the past decade or if it just raises more.

He stares at the small piece of cloth, cringes at the faded bloodstains on the white material, and then regains his composure and informs the man that was examining the body that the handkerchief is to be buried with his Guardian.

Hibari's funeral is a small, dry-eyed affair. The rest of the Guardians pay their respects and sit through the ceremony stone-faced. When Hibari's body is taken away to be cremated, Tsuna realises that he doesn't know where to scatter the ashes. After careful consideration, he scatters them on the roof of the abandoned building that was once Namimori Middle. Even if the building was now in a state beyond repair -- a state Hibari would never have let it fall to in his time -- he is sure that the man would have appreciated the gesture, at least a little.

His eyes fall to the mark of where a tonfa hit the wall, and to the scuff of paint where a whip could have missed its target.

He does not cry; instead, he scatters his Guardian's ashes as he bids both him and his tutor one final, silent farewell.

**END**

_"Tearless grief bleeds inwardly"_ is actually a quote said by Christian Nestell Bovee, an American author.

Reviews are always appreciated.


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